When I was starting out as a coach I was looking for information on coaching methods my only option were books. Some were interesting and educational but there is only so much I could really understand from a book. I have always been more of a visual learner. I learn much more quickly and completely by seeing things first hand rather than just from descriptions.

Video Cassettes and later, DVD’s, allowed me to see examples of skills, techniques and tactics that I could relate to the players that I was working with. The best of these gave detailed descriptions of coaching points variations and progressions.

Online video has become more and more accessible in the last five years making it easier and quicker to see get to exactly what you’re looking for. Rather than watching an hour video on a topic you can search for a clip of that shows you just what you’re looking for. The clips are usually short, five or 10 minutes most commonly. Our Video Library has more than 400 clips that cover virtually every technical and tactical topic.

We’ve recently offered a combination of media that I think covers the best of everything. Coaching the Barcelona 4-3-3 Attacking includes videos of actual FC Barcelona games. The attacking patterns are broken down and explained. The package also includes eBooks that take this information one step further show you diagrams and and descriptions of drills and exercise that you can use to teach your team the concepts that Barcelona uses to build their attack. So now I can see it done at the highest level, have it broken down into it’s components and see a complete explanation of how I can train my team to play the same way. That’s a long way from reading a book.

Brazilians learn the game by playing the game. In many countries training sessions are focused around drills and exercises that isolate techniques and tactics. Brazilian coaches spend most of their time creating playing environments with small-sided games that put an emphasis on the specific areas of the game but also train the player ‘globally’.

One of the most important tactics of the game is how your team will handle transitional situations. Small-sided games provide a great way to train your team to take advantage of them.

These games are from Brazilian Training Games. Incorporating these games into your training sessions will help you breakdown the game into realistic situations while focusing your players on competing and adding an element of fun to the practice that will increase their motivation to train and learn.

GAME 1 – Attack v Defense with 4 Goals

Organization: 2 teams – 6v6 to 10v10

Description: Classical Brazilian attack v defense game with 4 goals in the midfield. In all the attack v defense games, if the defenders score in the small goals or target they become strikers.

Coaching Points:
– Link midfield – forwards and defenders – midfielders
– Speed of the game with and without the ball
– Change of direction

Variation: 2 touches for the offensive players and 3 for the defensive players

Equipment: 4 small goals, discs.

GAME 2 – Attack v Defense – Minimum Touches on the Ball

Organization: 2 teams – 6v6 to 10v10

Description: Similar to Game 1, in this case the offensive team plays 1 or 2 touch on the ball, if they take 2 touches, the second must be forward. Defenders get 2 or 3 touches; the 3rd touch must be forward.

Coaching Points:
– Fast link between the midfielders – forwards
– Speed of the game with and without the ball
– Build up from the back

Rule: The player can stay for 5 seconds in the channel.

Equipment: 3 small goals, discs

GAME 3 – Attack v Defense – Outside Channels

Organization: 2 teams – 6v6 to 10v10

Description: Similar to the game 1, with 2 free outside channels

Coaching Points:
– Link midfield – forwards and defenders – midfielders
– Speed of the game with and without the ball
– Outside plays

Variation: 2 touch restriction (both defensive and offensive)

Rule: The players can only stay in the channel for 5 seconds

Equipment: 3 small goals, discs

GAME 4 – Attack v Defense – Shooting Bonus

Organization: 2 teams – 6v6 to 10v10

Description: Similar to the game 1, in this game every time that the offensive team finishes a ball on the goal or out, the coach crosses an extra ball into the box.

It’s a few days late, but happy New Year to everyone. I hope it is successful on and off the field for you.

We here at WORLD CLASS COACHING have a lot going on to start the year.

1. First and foremost we are getting lots of customer questions about our new Member Drills Database. Basically, the Jan/Feb edition is the last issue of the printed magazine. The printed magazine will now become a digital magazine with an issue every month (instead of every two months). The new digital magazine will also now be part of the Member Drills Database that includes over 30 different publications and thousands of pages of drills and exercises.

We are getting great feedback about the Member Drills Database, we are excited about it and feel that it is a groundbreaking addition to our books and DVDs. Quite simply it is the world’s largest online searchable database of soccer drills and exercises.

2. We have some excellent new books and DVDs that are ready to be released in the upcoming weeks. From a coaching perspective, I always enjoy reading new material to get me energized and motivated for getting back to the outdoor game after spending the winter playing indoor soccer, and I think our new stuff will do the same for you.

3. We are preparing for our trip to the NSCAA Convention in Baltimore. We always enjoy the Convention and visiting with our customers. So please stop by the booth if you will be in Baltimore and say hi.

4. The start of the year always means more work finalizing details for our International Coaching Seminar. This years seminar has a Dutch Coaching Methods theme and features Jan Pruijn of Ajax International. We are again partnering with John Walker and hosting the seminar at the University of Nebraska on February 11-12. Oh, and don’t forget that if you register now…before January 11, you will save $20 with the early bird discount.

So it’s a pretty hectic time for us and it’s usually only after our coaching seminar has concluded that we can take a deep breath and get back to some kind of normality. Not that I’m complaining, our mission is to provide top quality coaching material to all levels of coaches, and provide that material in platforms that our customers want. As always, please feel free to let us know if there is anything we can do to improve what we do.

Congratulations to Brian Mancill who was the winner of the $100 worth of books and DVDs for posting a comment on this blog. We decided on a blind draw for the first winner and I guess Brian got lucky.

Brian will now get a certificate for $100 worth of books and DVDs of his choosing from the WORLD CLASS COACHING web site.

We will draw out a winner every 2-3 weeks. All you need to do is post a comment and you could be the lucky winner $100 of books and DVDs from our web site.

How do we decide the winner? – It could be the person who posts the most interesting comment or someone who who has posted most often. If nothing stands out to us, we could simply draw a name out of the hat. Regardless, you can only win if you post a comment.

I’m not sure how we will pick the next winner but it won’t be a blind draw. Have a great week.

We are starting a special promotion with the WCC Blog. Every month (or more often if I feel like it), someone who has posted a comment on the WCC Blog will win a $100 certificate to be used for books and DVDs from our web site.

How do we decide the winner? – It could be the person who posts the most interesting comment or someone who who has posted most often. If nothing stands out to us, we could simply draw a name out of the hat from those that have posted. Regardless, you can only win if you post a comment. So go ahead, check the Blog regularly and post regularly and you could be the winner of $100 of books and DVDs.

Welcome to the WORLD CLASS COACHING Blog. We plan on writing a blog three times a week. One or more topic will be coaching related with thoughts on training sessions, drills, exercises, games and general coaching. One topic will be a general rant or commentary of things such as the pro game, upcoming or previous games on TV, the general state of soccer, new soccer ideas, the World Cup, etc. Occasionally, we will also publish a blog about what’s happening and what is new at WORLD CLASS COACHING.

We would like to hear from you and what you think. What topics would you like covered? What information you would like us to post. We are also interested in having guest Bloggers. So if you have something you want to say, get in touch with me at mikesaif@worldclasscoaching.com